I fished them out using a pair of tongs that I put under hot water in the sink. I went to get some alcohol wipes while I left the tongs under the sun, after drying the AirPods with some bathroom tissue (and throwing out the ear tips).
Once I had the wipes, I cleaned the AirPods multiple times, and wiped them on a microfibre cloth. Now I’m letting them under stay in the sun.
I don’t know what more to do. I plan to let them be under the sun for the rest of the day, and probably wipe them a few more times. I don’t know if that’ll be enough to soothe my worries, though.
they're fine
— A fellow germophobe
they're even better
-- a germophile